BRISTOL, Tenn.  – For the second time this season, the Converse University women's basketball team (10-14, 5-8 Conference Carolinas) defeated the King Tornado (2-22, 1-13 Conference Carolinas) by a final score of 72-57.

Junior guard Elisa Solé Sanchez led the team in scoring with 18 points. She also led the Valkyries in rebounding with 11. Redshirt senior center Sydney Wilson also led the team in scoring with 18 points of her own. She posted eight rebounds, the second-highest total for the Valkyries.

Solé Sanchez recorded her first double-double as a Valkyrie in Tuesday's victory.

King opened the scoring with a field goal just under two-and-a-half minutes into the game, but with just under three minutes elapsed in the game, Solé Sanchez sank a jump shot to give Converse the lead. The Tornado never regained the lead for the duration of the game.

Converse held King scoreless for over two minutes, pushing the lead to six points in that time. But after the Tornado cut the lead to just two points, 8-6, the Valkyries proceeded on a two-minute, 8-2, run, finishing the first quarter up 16-8.

The two teams scored a bit more evenly  in the second quarter. After King opened the quarter with its first four points, the Valkyries responded with a three-minute, 10-0 run, putting Converse up by 14 points, 26-12. But as King recollected themselves, they ended the first half with six of the final eight points over the final four-and-a-half minutes. The mid-second-quarter run was exactly the difference as the teams went to the locker room as Converse led 28-18.

Converse increased the lead to as many as 12 points in the third quarter, but the Tornado was able to cut the lead to as few as five points on three occasions, even getting the game within three points, 44-41, with 1:17 remaining in the third quarter. Following that basket, the teams once again went basket-for-basket and Converse's 10-point halftime lead was down to three, 46-43, heading into the final 10 minutes of the game.

Over the first minute-and-a-half of the fourth quarter, the Valkyries pushed the lead back to 10 points with an 8-1 run. The Valkyries continued to respond to each made basket with a made basket of their own, with the teams both putting 11 points on the board over the following five minutes. Converse held the 10-point edge with just under two minutes to go.

Converse closed out the game on an 8-2 run down the stretch and secured the 15-point, 72-57 victory.

The Valkyries continue their three-game road trip on Saturday, Feb. 17 as they head back to the Palmetto State to take on Southern Wesleyan in Central. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 P.M.

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